Page 27 - Bancroft Legal Planning Guide

*if the equity value of a Medicaid applicant’s principal residence does not exceed $585,000 (2019) it may be designated as exempt. But, if owned by the benefits recipient at death it is subject to a Medicaid estate recovery claim.
FINANCIAL ELIGIBILITY - GIFTING PENALTY. A penalty is imposed in the form of a period of ineligibility for benefits
if non-exempt assets are gifted during the 60-month period (look-back period) immediately preceding the application for benefits. The penalty is calculated by determining the total amount of gifts made by the applicant or spouse during the look- back period, and dividing that amount by the official average daily cost of a nursing home.
EXAMPLE:
$10,500 (Gift)
divided by
$342.58 (Average daily cost of NH care in PA (2019) = 30.65 = 30 days of ineligibility PA “rounds down” the fraction: 30.65 = 30 days
The transfer penalty does not begin to run unless the applicant is in a nursing home and is otherwise medically and financially eligible to receive benefits. In other words, the penalty for gifting does not begin to run until the applicant is in a nursing home and is broke.
FINANCIAL ELIGIBILITY – EXCEPTIONS TO GIFT PENALTY. There exist exceptions to the gift penalty the most notable of which are:
• Gifts to or for the benefit of a spouse • Gift of home to a caregiver son or daughter*
• Gifts to a disabled son or daughter • Gift of home to a sibling who co-owns
* a “caregiver” child is a son or daughter of a Medicaid applicant who resided in the applicant’s home and provided care to the applicant for a period of at least two years immediately preceding the applicant’s nursing home entry which enabled the applicant to remain at home instead of entering a nursing home.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW 27